At some point during a 51-day stretch, you'd think Washington Capitals defenseman John Erskine and coach Dale Hunter would speak. Accidentally, maybe.

Erskine, though, said Friday that's not the case, and that Hunter hasn't talked to him since Jan. 18, when Erskine took his legendary triple-minor on one play against the Montreal Canadiens.

John Erskine may wind up in the Washington Capitals' lineup again soon. (AP Photo)

Asked by CSNWashington.com if Hunter had talked to him much lately, Erskine replied: “Who? Dale? He hasn’t talked to me one little bit. I talk to (assistant coaches) Deano (Evason) and Jimmy Johnson here and there, but that’s about it.”

“Dale told me, when I was actually playing, it was after the Montreal game when I took the triple minor, he said I played with too much energy,” Erskine said. “I had to slow things down. He talked about lunging at players trying to get the hit. That was basically the last time I talked to him.”

At some point soon, Hunter will probably have to talk to Erskine; he, along with Roman Hamrlik, is a potential replacement for Mike Green, who's likely to be suspended for elbowing Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brett Connolly in the head during Washington's Thursday-night win.

In other news on Hunter's doghouse, he dropped winger Alex Semin from the second line to the fourth line at practice on Friday. Keith Aucoin took Semin's place with Mathieu Perreault and Jason Chimera. Semin, who couldn't cash in on scoring chance in overtime against Tampa Bay, was in a white fourth-line jersey with with Mike Knuble, Jeff Halpern and Joel Ward.

In spite of all that, the Capitals are currently in playoff position; they have 72 points and, by virtue of their 33 wins, hold a tiebreaker with the Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg plays Calgary tonight; Washington plays the Boston Bruins on Saturday.